Tuition fees will rise to £10,000

Tuition fees could triple under new budgeting proposals which may see state funding for university teaching slashed by as much as two-thirds

Universities will be able to charge fees of up to £10,000 a year in the face
of savage cuts to teaching budgets. Under far-reaching proposals, ministers
may slash money for teaching by two-thirds and remove state funding
altogether for arts and humanities degrees.

The expected fee reforms — among Lord Browne’s suggestions for a shake-up of
university funding — could come into effect as early as 2012. This will
require universities to set the prices of their degrees by next February or
March.

The changes will be unveiled in two weeks’ time when Browne, the former BP
boss, publishes his review of university finance.

Ministers will detail the cuts in the comprehensive spending review a few days
later, on October 20. The package will bring a decisive move away from
state-funded higher education towards degrees mainly paid for by students
from their future earnings.